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I got my pre-load code this morning and I can't wait to take this one for a spin this weekend after I take my final. Who else is picking this up?

Welp, guess I can join the 4-1 frustration club today! I missed the chest twice and I had a botched run between those two since you can only reach it via the temporary cannon in the room before (which I found out the hard way). It's not even a PARTICULARLY difficult thing to time, it just gets my nerves going when I reach that area.

I joined the 4-1 frustration club last night too...I eventually got all five of them (and a gold medal), but it took me a few runs. The first one gave me more trouble than any other, followed closely by the third.

So I got Canvas Curse out and played for about an hour the other day. I sped through the first 3 worlds, including their Rainbow Run time/line trials, and collected all but two or three medals, and my file completion is already at 25%. Either Canvas Curse is a lot shorter than I remember, or I'm just much better at it now than I was back in the day (my 100% save file from 2005 says my play time was 20 hours!).

Anyway, I really find the little differences between the two games interesting, often in ways I didn't expect.

I think what surprises me most is, I may actually like Canvas Curse's visual style more than Rainbow Curse. I forgot how cool and unique the mosaic-styled backgrounds and colorful foreground elements were in this game, and it really pops on the bright 3DS screens. As nice as the claymation style is, it's not all that evident with the regular play screen zoomed out so much, especially on the Gamepad. Overall, Rainbow Curse certainly has the presentation edge, and it's not like its visuals are lacking, either. But I don't remember Canvas Curse looking so nice. Maybe because I was still playing on the original DS's dark screens when I last played it.

I guess the main difference during play is that Canvas Curse feels faster and busier than Rainbow Curse. Some of this is simply because you have less screen space for Kirby to cover or to react to incoming stimuli. Kirby is also noticeably bouncier, both on regular ground and on the rainbow lines, which he doesn't stick to quite as readily. And when you dash into an enemy, Kirby bursts right through them in Canvas Curse where he bounces off in Rainbow Curse. Enemies in general are much more plentiful and attack in more aggressive ways, largely similar to their sidescrolling Kirby forms. But what really sets the game speed apart is how you are tapping non-Kirby objects almost as much as Kirby and his lines. Stun enemies, destroy blocks, activate devices, etc. As a result, the game feels more busy and "macro-managey" than Rainbow Curse, where basically all your interactions with the world run through Kirby.

I also forgot how Canvas Curse doesn't actually have traditional "bosses" like Rainbow Curse does. After finishing the three stages in each world (in any order you choose), you pick one of three minigames that you have to finish to move on. None of them are clunkers, but I don't think they hold up particularly well among the long history of Kirby's side attractions. Paint Roller's connect-the-dots game is especially finicky and frustrating, and I distinctly recall cursing through its toughest challenge to get 100% back in the day.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane, especially with Rainbow Curse so close in my rearview mirror for a fun compare/contrast exercise.

Still plugging away. I made it through 6-1 last night, and I've completed all available challenges (including the first five that required me to beat every boss without taking a hit), have all gold medals, and have every treasure chest. This game is growing on me...it's a little more barebones that Canvas Curse in some ways (namely the lack of power-ups) but I think I prefer it. I might need to replay Canvas Curse though before I make that call.

@ludist210 I was leaning Canvas Curse for a while, but now that I've had a full run of each, it's tougher to say which of the two games I prefer.

The core feel of Canvas Curse still seems more ideal to me than Rainbow Curse's slower pace, but Rainbow undoubtedly has way more layers on top of that core, most of them good. Canvas Curse often throws the player into levels that wouldn't be too out-of-place in a traditional Kirby game, platforms and baddies scattered about in various formations designed more for simple combat than puzzles. Rainbow Curse thrives more on unique gimmicks that show up in one stage and then mostly disappear, something that has increasingly become part of the Nintendo Platformer Formula.

And while I was disappointed that Rainbow Curse dropped the Copy Abilities, they contribute less to Canvas Curse than I remember. A bunch of them have plenty of potential -- you can glimpse it in the custom Rainbow Run stages for Wheel, Stone, Balloon, and Rocket, which all feel like their own cool minigames -- but the Story Mode stages didn't really meet that potential. They're often just used as barriers to Medals, i.e. make sure you keep the Beam ability through this tough section so you can get the medal at the end. So I can understand Rainbow Curse cutting the copy abilities if they were going to return exactly as they were in Canvas Curse, but I still would have liked to see them return with improved implementation.

I think, in the end, I'd have to give the nod to Rainbow Curse over its predecessor. It made a lot of little changes, with mixed results at best, but it also provides a lot more variety through the story mode and a better overall presentation.

Two posts in a row! I'm down to needing four gold medals to open up the last challenge room. One is in 7-1 (just not playing that level smart) and the rest are in the three challenge rooms I haven't accessed yet (beat the level 7 boss, beat the level 7 boss without getting hit, and collect all 22 diary pages (I have 21)). I really, really like this game. It's simple, but it's not at the same time.

It was fine until I had to beat the Hooplagoon...I lost on that alone more times that I care to remember, and several because I got too excited and couldn't draw a line to get to the treasure. And that's the last room! But it was oh so satisfying when I finally nabbed it.

There were a couple that I struggled with in that room too (particularly the tank room and the room with the two Dethskullks). None of the rest were too bad, but Wispy took me by surprise the first time I saw it in part ten. I think I failed at that one once...that was about it.

Grabbed this game from the library. Aside from the absolutely incredible presentation, I wasn't really feeling the first world, for some reason. But I've really started to enjoy the game now that I'm in the second world. It's quite an elegantly designed game. Getting huge star chains is pretty satisfying. However, as in Canvas Curse, fighting enemies is probably the weakest part. Above all else, the game is just so adorable, seriously. It's giving me cavities.

That said, Yoshi's Touch and Go is still the superior touch-based experience.

Well, 9 months behind the times but I'm finally getting around to playing this. Reviews and impressions were all over the place so I didn't know what to expect but... I'm enjoying it! Seems like a pretty worth follow-up to Canvas Curse so far (though without the "fresh" feeling that one had.)

I honestly don't mind staring at the GamePad, that's a non-issue to me. The stages do seem kind of long but I'm not trying to 100% them so that doesn't really seem that bad either.

I can't say I'm digging the music though. Something about it seems a bit off from the usual greatness of Kirby music.

I keep forgetting you can't tap an enemy to stun them in this game. Wonder why they took that out.

It's very charming though and they keep introducing neat new ideas. So far. I'm only in the middle of world 2.

I keep coming back to this game's soundtrack. I love it! There are so many catchy melodies that encompass a wide range of moods from upbeat to dramatic to just plain beautiful. This track from the first world is one of my favorites.

Parts of the soundtrack are great. Others just feel too cheese for me.

I'm loving this game though. Finished the first three worlds and part of the fourth. Did some of the challenge stages too. Not sure it is quite up there with the original (which was one of my favorite DS games, period), but it's pretty sweet. Feels like exactly what I need right now too. Something fun and creative and (relatively) stress-free.

The transformations kind of feel like a weak point though. Well, the sub was ok. Tank is sooooooooooooooo slow.

Man I was just getting into it and then world 5 came along... worst world yet. 2 transformation stages, 1 stage with an odd mechanic, and 1 rehash boss. I feel like the game is best when it sticks to its core mechanic and that was pretty much non-existent in this entire world. Not that the alternatives are bad per se, I just feel like they should be alternatives and not the meat.

World 5 was probably my least favorite part of the game, but I still enjoyed it. It probably could have used one more solid traditional level to balance out the levels you mentioned. The reused boss battles are unfortunate, too.